Prints and the pursuit of knowledge in early modern Europe
By: edited by Susan Dackerman ; with essays by Susan Dackerman ... [et al.].
Contributors: Harvard Art Museum; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art
Publisher: Harvard Art Museums; Yale University Press [distributor]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass; New Haven [Conn.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 442
ISBN-13: 9781891771583; 9780300171075
Subjects: Sociology of Knowledge; Exhibitions; Intellectual life; Art and science; European Prints; Renaissance Prints
Description: An unusual collaboration among distinguished art historians and historians of science, this book demonstrates how printmakers of the Northern Renaissance, far from merely illustrating the ideas of others, contributed to scientific investigations of their time. Hans Holbein, for instance, worked with cosmographers and instrument makers on some of the earliest sundial manuals published; Albrecht Durer produced the first printed maps of the constellations, which astronomers copied for over a century; and, Hendrick Goltzius' depiction of the muscle-bound Hercules served as a study aid for students of anatomy. "Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe" features fascinating reproductions of woodcuts, engravings, and etchings; maps, globe gores, and globes; multilayered anatomical 'flap' prints; and, paper scientific instruments used for observation and measurement. Among the 'do-it-yourself' paper instruments were sundials and astrolabes, and the book incorporates a facsimile of globe gores for the reader to cut out and assemble. -- Publisher description.
Notes: Published to accompany an exhibition held at the Harvard Art Museums, Sept. 6-Dec. 10, 2011, and the Block Museum of Art, Jan. 17-Apr. 8, 2012.

Includes bibliographical references and index.